Dear school owners, kindly learn from this story of mine.
I have read about the above topic on several platforms but never gave it much attention.
I never believed so much in the statement until I recently had a bitter taste of it.
I have read it severally in Mr. Bello Abdulrahman Adedigba’s write ups on Facebook that his mentor used to tell him that, “If you are on a rented apartment, you don’t have a school yet”. I never saw it as a big issue because I have seen many schools that started on rented apartments and doing well on their permanent sites today. I taught at Grace Schools, Gbagada, Lagos for many years. The school started on a rented apartment at Onipanu, Lagos (where we now have Union Homes) before moving to its permanent site at Gbagada. So many other schools like that started on rented apartments. Maybe this is what entered my head that made me not give the statement a deep thought.
Wednesday 24th November, 2021 was a red letter day for me. A day I would never forget in a hurry! This was the day our pupils were supposed to start their First Term Examinations.
My wife and I were still at home, preparing to go to school when a call came in from one of our teachers at 6:55am that the landlady did not open the gate for them and that she beat up one of our female teachers. My wife rushed down to the school, I followed her five minutes later and got there around 7:10am only to meet some pupils, teachers and parents outside the gate. The landlady locked the gate inside, threatening to kill anyone who made an attempt to come in.
I was shocked, I could not believe what I was seeing because there was no dispute or quarrel of any sort between us. Ofcourse, we just made half payment for next year’s rent with the agreement to pay the balance in January, 2022.
As she locked the gate inside, we had to turn round the fence to enable us see her. She was holding a long stick, walking up and down the compound like a soldier, threatening to kill anyone that tried to come in. She was actually acting like a mad person. The men around and the police that came later were even scared of going near her.
The number of pupils and parents kept increasing outside the gate; passers-by also joined us to beg the woman. She refused to open the gate and insisted that we should relocate the school from her building immediately.
My head was filled with so many questions: What has gone wrong? What is the problem? Is this not the same woman who was asking me a few days back to go and take Covid-19 Vaccine? Is this not the same woman who told us she would be travelling to Calabar on Tuesday? Is she really insane? Why is she doing this to us? I couldn’t find an answer to any of these questions.
We brought in elderly people in the neighbourhood, a Redeemed Church pastor and her church Reverend Father to plead with her, all to no avail. She refused to open the gate even for the Reverend Father. She insisted that we should move our school out of her building immediately.
The Reverend Father finally jumped over the fence to calm her down but she refused.
I overheard some people saying, “This is not done anywhere, at least you give them 3 or 6 months’ Quit Notice”.
With the way she was acting, we assumed that she was mentally derailed. But why should she use her mental disorder to affect us?
I was destabilised. It was quite embarrassing. It was just like a dream. A big shock indeed! Honestly speaking, I am just recovering from the shock.
Immediately, we declared a two-day compulsory holiday. We pleaded with our parents to keep their children at home on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th November, 2021. We quickly made an alternative and temporary arrangement in our residential building to enable the pupils write their First Term Examinations between Monday 29/11/21 and Friday 02/12/21. We were lucky that all the parents cooperated and brought their kids to our house for the exams.
To God be the glory, before the exams were over, God in His infinite mercies provided a more conducive, much better and bigger place very close to the former place. We give all honour and glory to God Almighty for this timely intervention. It’s the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. It’s God who did it. He who parted the sea and made way for the Israelites. We bless His holy name.
A week later, I went to the premises to pack some items. Guess what! She came to me begging. She said, “Mr. Ariyo, e joo, e ma binu. I know you have spent so much money on this apartment, please don’t be annoyed…”
I was dumbfounded. I asked myself, “Does this woman know the gravity of what she did? The damages and embarrassment she caused the school? Did this woman feign her madness that day? Was she pretending? These were my questions. I was confused…
Our intention was to take a legal action against her, and sue her for assault and damages if all she displayed that day was feigned.
Is she an illiterate?Ofcourse No, she is a learned person, a civil servant. A level 17 officer.
I heard similar stories of school owners who suffered the same thing in the hands of their landlords but did not survive it.They developed high blood pressure which led to their death.
Let’s assume we were unable to get another place, what would have happened? I once again thank God for taking control of the situation.
Having experienced this personally, I am using this medium to tell you that, if your school is operating on a rented apartment, you don’t have a school yet. It is more devastating if the landlady or landlord lives in the same building like ours.
I am not sharing this to scare anybody, but to keep us on our toes. We should not relax. It’s either we work on buying the building where we are operating now if it is offered for sale or work on getting our permanent sites. Those who have already gotten their permanent sites should start working on how to move there. More importantly, let’s be PRAYERFUL. With God, all things are possible.
School business is a very sensitive one.
God Almighty will take all of us to higher places He has designed and prepared for us.
It was indeed a bitter experience for me!
I hope you have learnt a lesson from this.
Thank you.
Culled by Bolaji Ariyo
